Gardeners go to class
Garden expert Dillard talks about her philosophies of creating a home garden
If you haven't yet dug those gardening gloves out of the closet, it's time.
Next weekend, Callaway Gardens offers two events to welcome gardening season: the Callaway Gardens Plant Fair and Sale, with nurseries and specialty vendors from throughout the southeast offering up plants and other garden fare all under one mammoth tent; and the annual Callaway Gardening School, which this year features garden experts Walter Reeves and Tara Dillard, of radio and television fame.
Next week we'll sit in with Reeves as he shares ideas for gardening with wildlife with Columbus-area master gardeners. This week, we talk with Dillard from her home in Stone Mountain, Ga., about her philosophy of garden design:
Can you describe the concept of a "vanishing threshold," which you'll be talking about at the Callaway Gardening School? How do you view the relationship between a home and garden?
"I view it as one, and I tell my clients before I go out that I must go inside their house to see how they live in it so that I can place the garden, its views, and its focal points off the key views in the house... When you design the garden so that the garden can be seen from the house that is the heart of gardening because you're hearkening back several centuries to what they did in Italy with the villa. It's nothing new... To me gardening is about the relationship between the garden, the house and the owner."
You have said, 'Honestly I created my garden but I know it is now creating me.' Can you talk about the process of building your garden in Stone Mountain and how it has evolved over time?
"I've lived there 20 years and I would say this is probably the seventh garden here because I became a garden designer while I lived here. The garden is filled with flowering shrubs, flowering trees, flagstone terraces, flagstone pathways, an incredible patio with an arbor. It's very low maintenance and it's very colorful because of all the flowering shrubsŠ
"If you were just in my garden and you didn't know where you were, you might think you were in England or France or Italy. And that's what a good classical garden would do -- not only is it not indicative of geography, it doesn't indicate an era. That's really important to me; I think when you look out on your garden the best part of its serenity is the timelessness of it."
How big is your garden?
"Under a quarter acre... When people see my garden first through my lecturing and my powerpoints and then come to my garden they're like, 'Tara, this is so small.' But it's such a good design that involves all the senses, and it's timeless and sizeless. I could die in this house a very old lady and I would never be bored here. I get more emotional about my garden all the time."
How have you created that "vanishing threshold" between your own house and garden?
"Off of my bedroom window, as I'm talking to you now, I'm looking at a patio view that goes through the garden, and there are patio benches with a bistro table in between... Every window of my home is the vanishing threshold. I can look out my office, my guest room and my bathroom and see my garden, and it's gorgeous. Every window of my home would make a magazine photo, and if you think of your garden that way it's easier to compose a garden -- by thinking through the camera's eye."
What was the motivation behind your recent "Perennials for Georgia" book? Are you a particular fan of perennials?
"Perennials got me into all of all this. The first symposium I ever went to was about perennials with Fred and Mary Ann McGourty. When I heard them speak and saw their photos I was blown away. I had an engineering degree but I couldn't speak their language." Dillard said it was that symposium that inspired her to get a second college degree in horticulture.
"Now I've replaced many perennials with flowering shrubs because they take up more space and require less maintenance, but I still love perennials."
Will you name a few of your favorite perennials that would do well in Columbus-area gardens?
"Iris, daylilies, purple coneflower, black-eyed Susans. And for shade you can have hostas, hellebores and ferns. I like short lists, and this may sound like a boring list to you but when things take care of themselves and they keep and they stick around, they're not boring to me... . Also, if you've got a perennial garden with sun you've got to anchor it with rosemary because it's evergreen and blooms all winter."
What key advice would you give for creating a perennial garden that is beautiful but not overgrown?
"First off, a perennial garden to be beautiful should have contrasting flower shapes; it should have round flowers and spiked flowers. And if you don't want it to be overgrown, get a garden design plan because an expert in design and gardening will know how much space to give each grouping... Or take the advice of the extension office. I would use the top ten perennials that they recommend and the soil recommendation and keep it simple. That's the top rule of garden design: Keep it simple."
What perennials would your recommend avoiding? Which are likely to grow out of control? "They go in first because you put your lower things on either side of your pathway, then the flowering shrubs... . Not only do I design that's way, it's how you should install your garden... . I like using natural materials as much as possible. My garden is very small and the woodland garden on the side of the house has a woodchip path lined with tree limbs, but the other pathways in my garden are flagstone edged in brick, and one is gravel edged in brick. The higher the edgings Š the more formal your pathway is." f+bWhat advice would you offer for making a garden look beautiful year-round?
"Good bones. Good bones are evergreens, and in Georgia that's going to be azaleas and camellias and your focal points put properly on axes with your views and your pathways."
Any final thoughts?
"The first rule of gardening is to keep it simple. The second rule of gardening is to copy. The third rule of gardening is repetition, and this holds true in the year 1200 Italy or 2007 Atlanta. The rules do not change. Nobody's special; don't recreate the wheel. If you copy something you see that will work in your garden it will look unique because every space is special... . If I design a front yard and I start with the right hand side then I can take what I've done and pick it up and mirror image it on the left hand side. Repetition and simplicity -- I am not afraid to be simple."
Dillard said gardening, for her and for many of her clients, has become part of a larger life philosophy of striving for beauty and harmony in all aspects of life.
"I always sign off my e-mails with 'Garden and be well,' " she said. "And it's been true for me."
IF YOU GO TO CALLAWAY GARDENING EVENTS
Gardening School
When: March 30
Where: Callaway Gardens
Who: Featuring Tara Dillard, garden designer and author, and Walter Reeves, garden radio show host and columnist.
Schedule: "Vanishing Threshold: Combining House and Garden with Tara Dillard," 9-10 a.m.; "Using What Nature Gives Us with Walter Reeves," 10:45-11:45 a.m. "Question and Answer Session with Walter Reeves and Tara Dillard," 1:30-2:30 p.m.
Cost: Registration for all three sessions and lunch is $55. Individual sessions are $20 and an optional lunch is $15. To register, call the Callaway Gardens Education Department at 1-800-CALLAWAY (225-5292) ext. 5153 or e-mail education@callawaygardens.com.
Plant Fair and Sale
When: 3-7 p.m. March 29; and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. March 31 to April 1.
Where: Beach Dome at Robin Lake Beach, Callaway Gardens
Details: Nurseries and specialty vendors from throughout the Southeast will offer plants and other garden wares for sale. Saturday and Sunday will also include an art show and sale by the Southern Rivers Guild of Artists and Craftsmen.
Cost: Admission to the Plant Fair and Sale at the Beach Dome at Robin Lake Beach is free when entering through the beach gate on U.S. Hwy. 27.
TARA DILLARD
Age: 46
Education: Tara has degrees in industrial engineering from Southern Methodist University and horticulture from Dekalb College.
Career: Dillard hosted The Better Gardening Show on CBS in the mid 1990s and has worked extensively for NBC, HGTV and PBS. She designs and installs landscapes throughout metro Atlanta as owner of A Garden View, a landscape design and installation business.
Books: Dillard's books include "The Garden View," "Beautiful By Design," "Perennials for Georgia" and "Best Garden Plants for Georgia," (both books she co-authored with Don Williamson), and "Garden Paths and Stepping Stones.
